The New Student is a Year Four ☆•*: . | Neville Longbottom Fanfiction

Chapter Eight - Breakfast

Professor Dumbledore storms towards me and Harry and grabs both of our shoulders harshly. The other teachers and champions behind him. "Did you or did you not put your names in the Goblet of Fire?!" He yells, we stumble as he backs us up into a wall.

"No sir! I swear!" Harry promises.

Professor Dumbledore looks at me. Even though I am terrified of this man and the way he is speaking to me, I have to set my grounds or else I will look weak to the other champions. There's no way the Ministry will let us back out of the competition. I look into his eyes. "I would appreciate it if you could take your hands off of me first."

Everyone in the room falls silent. "W-well, of course," he lets us both go. "Now, did you do it?"

"No! Of course not!" I yell and fight back tears. "Why would I sign up to a competition where people die just for a title? That's so stupid!"

Dumbledore clears his throat and looks at Mr. Crouch with plead in his eyes. Crouch just sighs, "There's nothing the Ministry can do. Mr. Potter and Ms. Evergreen have no choice but to compete in the Tri-Wizard tournament."

Well that's just great.

———

"Can you believe it?" Harry says. We are in the hall walking back to our common rooms. "Who could've put my name in there? It could be anyone!"

I give him a look. "Harry, there's only one obvious answer."

He studies my face. "You don't mean...but how? I killed him back in first year."

I shrug. "Anything could happen. I mean just think about it, do you really think there isn't someone out there trying to get him back?"

"Well, I didn't really think about it that way," he says.

"Of course you didn't," I mumble.

"But then what about you?" He asks.

"What about me?"

"There's no reason for someone to put your name in the Goblet, of course- I mean- unless you have fought a Dark Wizard when you were a child."

"I'm not sure...it would have to be someone very powerful," I say. "I would prefer not to think about it. Anyway, this is me. Bye Harry."

"See you tomorrow," Harry waves and disappears around the corner.

I look at the common room door. What's the riddle for today?

"Why is a raven like a writing-desk?" The entrance knocker asks.

"Why is a raven like a writing-desk..." I mumble in thought. I have heard this riddle before.

I wander through my library of memories. A raven and a writing-desk. The first thing that comes to mind is a nonfiction book I read about ravens, then I think of the informational book about wood work and crafts where it mentioned writing-desks. No. How is a raven like a writing-desk? It's a bird and a desk. This question is pure nonsense. Nonsense? No. Mad. Mad! Of course! It is quoting the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. And though it was never answered in the book, the author gave the answer some years later. So, why is the raven like a writing-desk?

"Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is nevar with the wrong end in front! The word 'nevar' was meant to be misspelled so it was 'raven' backwards," I answer.

The door opens and I smile at my success. I go straight to my dorm and start doing my homework to try and stay away from the thoughts of the Tri-wizard Tournament.

I can't believe they are making us do it. I can't believe someone went out of their way to put my name in there. This whole thing just doesn't add up. I mean, it makes sense for this to happen to Harry, but why me?

I shouldn't even be worrying about how this happened. I should be more worried about the tournaments. I'm decent with my broom, and I doubt there's going to be any competitions requiring knowledge about potions. I'm screwed. I'm really screwed. I don't even want to win. I just want to make it out alive.

"Ugh!" I close my book in frustration and slump back in the chair. "Whatever. I'm going to bed." I mutter.

I get up, take a shower, brush my teeth and head straight to bed. Hopefully I'll be able to figure this out tomorrow. I just need some rest. I'll think about this in the morning.

———

Right when I walk into the Great Hall for breakfast, the room begins to fill with whispers. That's when I turn around and see Harry behind me. I only greet him with a nod and he does the same.

I get dirty looks and I can hear people talking about me and Harry as I'm walking to my table. They are all saying the same thing. The Chosen One and the Only New Student crave more attention than they're getting. Rubbish.

I sit next to Luna and she just stares at me. I look back at her and she smiles.

"The Nargles are talking," she says.

I sigh. "Yeah. They are."

"Are you going to do anything about them?"

"What they're saying is not that bad. Besides, we don't want to cause a scene. That will only make everything worse." I smile.

"Hey Asphodel," Cho comes over to me and smiles. "Almost everyone in Ravenclaw believes that you didn't put your name in the Goblet."

"Really?" I ask.

She shrugs. "We're all smart enough to not believe on stupid rumors like those."

I smile. "Thank you."

She returns the smile and walks away.

I begin eating my breakfast while Luna rants to me about a book that she got at the library about magical creatures. That's when I see Ron Weasley come into the Great Hall.

Me and Ron aren't very close, even if I am with Harry and Hermione. I don't know why. I guess we haven't really had a chance to have a conversation outside of a group. He's usually happy but right now it looks like someone hit a nerve. He gives me a dirty look as he passes by. What the hell? He sits down as far from Harry as he possibly can. Harry just looks down at his food and I frown.

"Hmm," I get up and look at Luna. "I'll be back. I need to check out something."

I walk over to the Gryffindor table and sit beside Neville, who's facing Ron. Dean and Seamus are busy distracting Ron so I don't need to worry about them. Neville looks at me with confusion and I signal him to get closer.

"I'm too scared to ask Harry so I'm asking you, what's up with those two?" I whisper, hinting at Ron and Harry.

"They had this argument last night about how Harry didn't tell Ron that he would put his name in the Goblet. Harry was trying to tell him that he didn't do it but Ron doesn't believe him," He pauses and looks down. He's considering if he should tell me something that he's not supposed to. He looks at me. "He also mentioned you. He thinks you and Harry made a plan to put your names in the Goblet."

So that's what the dirty look was for. Good to know.

"So he's upset that Harry 'lied' to him and I'm somehow the reason for that," I say, more to myself than to him.

"If I may ask, are you okay? About the rumors, I mean," He asks.

"Oh I'm fine. They're stupid and not true. Besides, I'm more worried about the actual trials but I'll have think about that later," I smile. "How have you been doing?"

"Really good!" His eyes light up, "Actually, I was going to ask you if you wanted to go to the lake with me tomorrow since it's the weekend. I was going to study some of the moss there and I thought maybe you'd like to come. Harry will be tagging along too."

"I'd love to!" I say. My tone was happier than I intended.

I HAD A WRITERS BLOCK AND I COULDNT DECIDE ON WHAT TO DO FOR THIS WHOLE CHAPTER.

SORRY FOR THE LACK OF UPDATES.

Word count: 1,365